Fuel costs and CO2 emissions are increasingly important to van operators, as business conditions remain tough and regulation relating to emissions gets tighter.
Until last year, van manufacturers were extremely reluctant to publish fuel consumption and CO2 emissions data for their vehicles, claiming (with some truth) that they varied too widely depending on usage and loading.
The government, however, was having none of that and insisted that this information be made public. The result can be seen here, on the VCA’s (Vehicle Certification Agency) website. – a free, easy to use and comprehensive database of new van emissions and official fuel consumption figures.
(There was an similar database published by the BVLRA in December 2008, but it seems to have disappeared from their website)
Although these are only official figures, measured under test conditions, at least they are calculated in the same way for each van, so should provide some kind of meaningful comparison.